The opening game of a world chess championship is often tense and overly tepid. But there was fire on the board in London as the Norwegian champion Magnus Carlsen sacrificed a pawn for a venomous attack against his challenger Fabiano Caruana, only to throw away victory in a dramatic time scramble.

Eventually Caruana – who is bidding to become the first American since Bobby Fisher in 1972 to win the world title – was able to claim a draw. But he had to endure 115 moves and seven hours of slow torture before the players called it a night.